Beyond "The Secret"
I heard some people discussing "The Secret" recently. They made a point that I had just read in the book "My Reflections on Ho'oponopono" by Mabel Katz. The point about The Secret is simply this: The Secret teaches you to step up and ask the Universe for what you want. Beyond The Secret, Ho'oponopono and other philosophies teach us to ask for the Universe to guide us. They teach us to drop into that space wherein we let go of expectations and open ourselves to Divine guidance.
This difference is huge!
Fundamentally, The Secret teaches us to ask for what we want rather than for what we don't want. In order to ask for what we want, we have to know what we want. Hence, The Secret opens us to a process of inquiry in which we discover what we want and promote our sense of deserving what we want. The Secret cultivates a positive attitude and focus that takes us away from complaining and blaming.
At the core of The Secret lies the "Law of Attraction." The basic idea of the Law of Attraction is that we attract to ourselves what we put our attention on. If we think we deserve little, we get little. If we believe we are worthy of abundance, the Universe supplies us abundantly. For example, if you say you want a house and in your mind you see a small, two-bedroom, one and one-half bathroom stick-built track house, that Law of Attraction says that this is what you are likely to get, if you get anything. However, if you envision a three-bedroom, two and one-half bathroom Tudor house, then you're more likely to get that.
The problem with The Secret isn't in the holding a vision of what you want. The problem is wanting specific things. Wanting specific things constrains the possibility of the Universe giving you what you NEED at the time. If you ask for a two bedroom home with intent, you may keep the Universe from providing you with the three bedroom home you're about to need because you/your wife is about to get pregnant. Your desire for a smaller house isn't a bad thing. It's just that your desiring comes from a limited perspective. In the big picture, you need a larger house.
Ho'oponopono, Matrix Energetics and other systems that I use teach us to let our small, individual selves get out of the way so that the Universe can guide us and bring us to fulfillment of our live's purposes. The problem with desiring what we think we want is that our desiring comes from a superficial level, the level of the individual ego. We wind up asking for things that gratify our ego, things that don't necessarily fulfill our deepest needs. Hence, we end up feeling unfulfilled. Our attachment to gratifying these superficial desires results in our continuing to seek sensory/ego gratification. We get trapped in an unending cycle, addicted to seeking gratification day after day. Being stuck in this addiction cycle can make us anxious and even depressed because there's no end to the cycle. We just keep seeking more and more stuff and ever more intensely pleasurable experiences.
In order to break this vicious cycle, we have to shift our awareness from our individual egos, expanding our awareness to our Cosmic Egos, our Cosmic Selves. The simplest, most direct way I know to experience the Cosmic Self is Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation™ program. Popularly known as TM, this program allows our awareness to turn away from objects that attract our attention and settle into Pure Consciousness. Maharishi described TM as a simple, natural, innocent process. Coming out of meditation, we find that our deepest needs are met without our straining to try to meet those needs. We enjoy "support of Nature." When our awareness is truly established in the Self as we engage in our daily lives, we enjoy what Maharishi called "automation in administration" of life. Everything that needs to happen to bring us fulfillment happens innocently, spontaneously, without our straining to make it happen.
The bottom line here is that it's valuable to be mindful of the Law of Attraction, but to relax and be open to letting the Universe provide us guidance and the things we truly need. I'll discuss this more in my next webinar, which occurs on the evening of November 15th. The title of my presentation is "Finding Health: Continuous, Relentless Clearing." More information and a link to register is on the Events page of this website.
